THE GENESEE FARMER 



87 



IMPORTATION OF EUROPEAX CATTLE. 



E.N'OLAXD imports cattle from Contiucutal Europe, 

 particularly from Holland and Belgium. A corres- 

 pondent of the St. Louis Evening A'°cics saj's: 



" Thus it is. England imports fine cattle from the 

 continent of Europe, and the United States import 

 tine cattle from England. Yet there is no great 

 inconsistency in this. English stock growere get 

 cattle from abroad to cross with their line breeds, 

 knowing that in this way alone the superiority of 

 stociv nuiy be preserved. Jiut tue import all the time 

 from England, and cross with the inferior stock of 

 tills country. After a while we will get our native 

 stock elevated; but it will have an English sameness 

 about it Why should not the next importations be 

 from France, Holland or Belgium ? Having a good 

 supply of the best English breeds, if we obtain also 

 the best continental stock, we shall no longer be de- 

 pendent on England for improved crosses. The best 

 milkers in the world are found in France — and an im- 

 portation from Flanders or Limousin vre think would 

 be the best modern speculation in fine stock." 



We are informed that the suggestions advanced 

 above are about to be carried into practical effect on 

 an extensive scale in Missouri. One of the most ex- 

 tensive growers of stock in the neighl:)orhood of St. 

 Louis ^Charles L. Hunt, the Belgian Consul there), 

 some tmie since opened a correspondence with parties 

 in Europe for such information on the subject as was 

 desired by persons desirous of importing here. The 

 Belgian government he has also been writing to. 

 Agriculture there is under the special supervision of 

 the official authorities. The government directly in- 

 terests itself in the improvement of breeds of horses, 

 cattle, swine, and whatever else concerns the agricul- 

 tural welfare. Fine stallions, bulls, &c., are procured 

 by importation or otherwise, and stationed in the va- 

 rious Provinces for the farmei-s generally to breed 

 from. There is a separate bureau of their public af- 

 faii-s, to overlook and improve the agricultural and 

 stock-raising interests of the kingdom. In reply to 

 Mr. Hunt's letters soliciting information as to the 

 quality and price of horses, cattle, &c., the Belgian 

 Minister said that instructions had been sent out to 

 all the Produces, and that as soon as returns could 

 be had the result would be communicated to him. 

 He was at the same time assured that the Belgian 

 government felt gratified with the friendly purpose 

 raanifeste 1, and that every facility would be afforded 

 by that government to the people of Missouri in the 

 purchase and importation of Belgian stock. The in- 

 formation desired by Mr. Hunt was carefully collected, 

 and after collation so as to get the average price of 

 the animals specified, and the aggregate of quality, 

 the result was communicated to him in the following 

 brief and perspicuous document: 



" Bruxelles, Dec. 15, 1853. 



"MoxsEiuR LE Co.vsul: — I have the honor of ad- 

 dressing you a notice on the cattle, horses and sheep 

 of Belgium. In this notice you will find answers to 

 the last questions propounded in your letter of the 

 r2th of September last, relating to the qualities, 

 shape and price of the above-named animals. 



I am much obliged to you, M. le Consul, for the 



good intentions which caused you to ask me these 

 questions ; and I renew the assurance of my dis- 

 tmguished consideration. 



"The Minister of Foreign Affairs, 



" (Signed) H. De Brokere. 

 " To M. C. L. Hunt, Consul de Belgique, St. Louis." 



Mr. HuxT is organizing an association, with a large 

 capital, for the express purpose of importing stock 

 from Belgium and Germany. By the middle of April, 

 the commission, it is expected, will be ready to start 

 to Europe to make the purchases. The prices of cattlo 

 named varv from $50 to $300 a head in Belgium. 



NEW LEICESTER SHEEP. 



We give in this number of the Farmer engravings 

 of the celebrated New Leicester or Dishley sheep. 

 This breed originated in a series of experiments begun 

 about the year 1755, and conducted by Robert Bake- 

 well, of Dishley, in Leicestershire, England. There 

 has been not a httle dispute in Great Britain as to the 

 parent stock selected by Bakewell for propagating 

 his improved race. But though Bakewell's sub- 

 jects are conjectural, both the principles on which he 

 worked them into a new breed, and the practices by 

 which he rendered that breed distinct and permanent, 

 are well known. " He perfectly underetood," says 

 Professor Low, "the relation which exists between 

 the external form of an animal and its aptitude to 

 become fat in a short time. He saw that this relation 

 did not depend upon size, nor, in the case of sheep, 

 on the power of the individual to yield a large quan- 

 tity of wool. He therefore departed from the prac- 

 tice of all former breeders of the long-wooled sheep, 

 who had regarded size and an abundant growth of 

 wool as primary properties in the parents. Holding 

 bulk of body, and the produce of the fleece, to 

 be secondary properties, Bakewell directed especial 

 attention to the external form which indicates the 

 property of yielding the largest quantity of muscle and 

 fat, with the least bone and what is usually termed 

 offal. He aimed, too, it is said, at producing the fat 

 on the most valuable parts; but this is merely a sub- 

 sidiary property, dependent upon general harmony 

 of confirmation. Progressively perfecting his animals 

 by skillful selection, he necessarily continued to breed 

 from his own stock, and did not scruple to connect 

 together animals the nearest allied in blood to one 

 another. This system, continually pursued, not only 

 gave a permanency to the characters imprinted on his 

 sheep, constituting a breed, in the proper sense of the 

 term, but tended to produce that delicacy of form 

 which experience shows to be connected with the 

 power of secreting fat, and arriving at early maturity, 

 or what may be termed premature age. The system, 

 acted upon for successive generations, tended likewise 

 to render the animals more the creatures of an arti- 

 ficial condition, more delicate in temperament as weU 

 as in form, less prolific of lambs, and less capable 

 of supplying milk to their offspring. It can not be 

 supposed that Bakewell was unobservant of these 

 effects; but he appears to have regarded them as 

 being of a consideration secondaiy to the property 

 of producing, in the shortest time, the largest quan- 

 tity of fat, with the least consumption of herbage 



